


Hair today, Gone Tomorrow

by TardisTexan



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-13
Updated: 2014-04-13
Packaged: 2018-01-19 05:34:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,043
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1457593
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TardisTexan/pseuds/TardisTexan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>I found out the local marriage customs.  Pretty standard, really.  They even do hand fasting ceremonies if that is what we want.  But there is just one little thing that might seem..... unusual.   At the ceremony, the woman's hair is shorn off.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Hair today, Gone Tomorrow

**Author's Note:**

> After writing so many angsty stories in a row for River and the Doctor, I wanted to write a happy one. So I thought, another wedding! But it's never that simple with the Doctor, is it?

The Doctor and River were on the planet Stanzi, laying on a blanket in a field of endless yellow flowers. He had picked her up from Stormcage and to make up for the days in that horrid place, he wanted to take her somewhere bursting with color and the plains of Stanzi certainly fit the bill. 

The Doctor kissed River's jaw, his mouth trailing down toward her ear, capturing her ear lobe and sucking gently. River sighed as his mouth continued down the curve of her neck, his fingers coming up to push the strap of her tank top away so he could explore her skin. 

“Perfect. Absolutely perfect,” the Doctor murmured as he kissed her shoulder. River tugged at his head, bringing his lips to hers and kissing him. 

Kissing River now felt freeing to him. It hadn't always been so, but now when he kissed her he felt his match, his perfect mate, his loneliness just... gone.

When they parted, he ran his fingers down her face and looked into her eyes. “Marry me, River.”

“We are already married,” River said with a little smile, her fingers moving toward his trousers.

“Yes, but we aren't married on Stanzi,” he said, moving to stop her hands. “Marry me, today. Be my wife again.”

River's hands stopped and moved up to his face, tracing his cheeks and then moving into his hair. “How many will this be for you?” she asked.

“Six. You?”

“Eight.” River smiled at him. She was always amazed at his declarations of commitment and love. She would never tire of being surprised with another wedding. Each one was a cherished memory. “Of course I'll marry you again. But this time we are going to research the local customs first.”

“Why?” the Doctor asked, not thinking as he resumed kissing her neck. “I think after six and eight we probably have it down by now.”

“Doctor, remember what happened at Irt?” The Doctor's lips stopped and his ears turned red as he blushed. Irtian weddings were consummated at the wedding... in front of all the guests. He hadn't realized that before he had dragged the village official into the town square to marry them right there. 

“Okay, you may have a point. We will do a bit of research. But first....” the Doctor pulled River's tank a little more and his mouth moved down across the swell of her breast.... 

\------

Later in the capital city, the Doctor and River wandered around the large market. The Doctor was looking for another wedding gift for his wife while River spoke to the local women. He was browsing in a stall when he saw her walking toward him with a dress in her arms and smirk on her face. Oh no, he knew that look. She knew something that she thought he would overreact about. She loved it when she could get his goat. Well, he would not give her the satisfaction. He would keep a perfectly calm mask on his face this time and ruin her little plans.

“Find a nice dress, Dear?”

“Why yes, yes I did. And I found out the local marriage customs. Pretty standard, really. They even do hand fasting ceremonies if that is what we want. But there is just one little thing that might seem..... unusual.”

“And what is that, Dear?” the Doctor asked, keeping the calm smile on his face, looking at the bracelets on the table in front of him.

“At the ceremony, the woman's hair is shorn off.”

The Doctor's eyes flew to hers and he sputtered, “What?”

“It's quite touching really. The young girls grow their hair long. When they marry, the hair is completely cut off as a symbol of leaving her youth and her old life behind.”

“Well, you are certainly no young maid leaving her parents behind. You are not cutting your hair,” the Doctor said with a determined look on his face.

“Oh no, Sweetie. I wouldn't be doing it. You would be. The husband cuts the hair.”

The Doctor looked at her, speechless for a minute. That was simply unthinkable. “That's it, we are getting out of here, now.” The Doctor grabbed River's hand and started pulling her out of the stall. River let him get just outside of the stall when she stopped and laughed. The Doctor turned and looked at her, realizing in that moment that he was failing miserably at his plan not to let her get to him. But it was her hair, her glorious hair! “River! Stop laughing at me. I absolutely refuse to cut off your hair. You know it would wound me, terribly. Would you want to put me through that kind of pain?”

“Oh Sweetie, stop being so dramatic. It's just hair. I kind of like the idea. I haven't shaved my head since I was a 15 year old Mels, and that was only one side. And you said you wanted to marry me here and I want to be married on Stanzi.”

“Rrrrrivvvverrrrr,” the Doctor whined. 

“No, you promised me a wedding and we are going to have a wedding. And you are going to cut off my hair in front of all the witnesses.” River saw the sad look in his eyes and put her hand to her cheek. “I would do it for you, Sweetie. This is how the women here show their commitment to their husbands and their new life. I want to show my commitment to you.”

“But River, I don't need that. Every time I see the bars of your cell, I am painfully aware of the commitment and sacrifice you have made to me and for me.”

“Doctor, I want to do this. Number Six and Number Eight.” River smiled at him. “It will be alright, I promise.”

He could not deny her anything, no matter how much he hated it. He nodded and pulled her close to him, his hand tangling in her hair. “Well then, we are going to cut mine off too.”

“The husbands don't cut their hair, Doctor.”

“Well, this one will. We are equals and we will show our commitment to each other.”

River hugged him tighter. “Thank you, Sweetie.”

\-----

Some of the women in the market had overheard River and the Doctor's conversation, and had talked to the other women and they were happy to throw a wedding for the couple. At the end of the day when the market had closed, they moved their chairs to the park on one side of the square and helped River get ready. While they did envy her hair, they were proud that she would join in their custom even though she wasn't from Stanzi.

As the sun was setting, the men stood the Doctor at the front of the crowd that had gathered and when someone started to play a guitar like instrument, he looked up and saw River walking toward him. She was wearing a white dress with small yellow flowers embroidered on it. She held a small bouquet of the yellow flowers they had laid in earlier. The Doctor beamed at her. River was beautiful, and seeing her happy and joyful made his hearts swell. After seeing her sad and hurt so many times because of something he did or simply because he was too young, putting that look of happiness on her face was something he was very proud to be able to do. 

They smiled at each other, love shining in their eyes as they spoke the words the religious leader asked of them. They made their promises to each other, choosing each other again. He bound their hands with a piece of white cloth and blessed them. 

“And now, as this woman leaves her old life behind and steps into her new life,” the priest said, “she leaves everything behind, including her hair.” A woman brought up a chair for River to sit in and a pair of scissors for the Doctor. The Doctor took the scissors and looked at them sadly. 

“Are you sure?” he asked River. She nodded at him, smiling. He took a last look at her gorgeous curls and reached out and look one ringlet in his hand. For a moment, he was afraid. What if like Sampson, cutting River's fabulous hair would take away some of her River Song amazingness? What if her ability to kick ass and take names was tied to her hairs ability to defy gravity? 

The Doctor sighed and shook his head. He positioned the scissors and closed his eyes and 'snip' cut the ringlet off. The crowd let out a joyful cry and he opened one eye. He cut another one and they cheered him again. He relaxed a bit and opened both eyes. River was beaming and the crowd was thrilled for them. He went about his work, trying to make everything even but leaving clumps and weird cuts everywhere. When he was done, River's head looked like a doll that had it's hair cut off by a child but she was happy and the crowd was happy so the Doctor tried not to be so mournful of his wife's gorgeous hair on the ground. 

The Doctor handed the scissors to River and she got up and kissed him. The crowd cheered again and he picked her up and twirled her. When he sat her back down on the ground, he sat down in the chair. There were some odd looks on the faces of the locals and he took River's hand. He announced loudly, “This woman is my wife, and I leave my old life behind also. I would be lost without her, and so we walk forward hand in hand, together, even without our hair.”

When River took his floppy fringe and cut it, the crowd cheered again. When she was done, he stood and they kissed again, the music playing and the crowd clapping for them. The women pulled River away and then men took the Doctor. The town barber used his clippers on the Doctor and River both, cleaning them up and leaving them with a little bit of fuzz on their heads. The women gave River a crown of the yellow flowers and ribbon that she wore as they ate and danced the night away.

\-----

The happy couple stumbled back to the TARDIS at the end of the night, exhausted. They collapsed fully clothed on their bed and looked at each other. The Doctor ran his hand over the fuzz on River's head. “Your curls, your gorgeous curls..... “

“Am I so hideous without them?” River asked.

“Of course not, Darling. You are still beautiful. My beautiful wife who has given up everything for me, including her hair. 

“And you have given up yours as well. You know, you look ridiculous. If you had eyebrows, it might not look so weird, but since you don't you just look like a....”

“River!” the Doctor cried in a wounded voice. River laughed and pushed him onto his back and lay on top of him. “Thank you,” River said. “Thank you for loving me, for marrying me, and for cutting your hair for me.” 

He looked up into her eyes in wonder. He could give her anything, give her galaxies if she asked, but all she had asked was for was for him to be husband again. “I'd do anything for you. I love you, River.”

“I love you too,” she said, kissing him.

\-----

River woke up several hours later and the Doctor wasn't in bed with her. She went out and found him in the console room, fully dressed and at the controls. “Great, you are up. Get dressed.”

“Where are we going?”

“We are already here. 52nd Century pleasure planet. The finest spa in the galaxy.”

River raised her eyebrow at him. “The one with the hair salon with the famous formula that promises to grow a full head of hair in an hour?”

The Doctor grinned and nodded. “Come on, we'll have tea and scones for breakfast and watch your hair grow back.”

River just smiled and kissed him on the cheek. “Order me a blueberry one,” she said, laughing as she turned to go get dressed.


End file.
